How to start with a SEO campaign that Google will always love

Are you just beginning your online journey? Is your website recently launched and you are wondering where and how to start with your SEO campaign?

Like any other plan, your Search Engine Optimization campaign will work right if you begin right. But where to start from? I'm sure with information about the countless social media channels, video promotion, and backlinking sounds overwhelming.

This blog post is meant to make it easier for you to start with a result oriented SEO campaign.

There is countless information on how Google's algorithm has been going through changes, but what most people tend to overlook is the fact that if some rules have in fact NEVER CHANGED!

When it comes to SEO, there will always be some sort of risk. It's how you manage and take those risks that make you a winner, separating you from the rest of the crowd. Then again, that's a story for another post.

In the Following Guide, some of the things you will learn:

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The 6 SEO rules that will never change

100% working SEO Blueprint.

Yellow Brick Road to website ranking.

How to leverage social media and forums for your benefit?

and much more...

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Google Has Evolved over the years

Google has changed, but instead of us talking about Google changes, we will talk about what are we going to do to change our marketing and SEO for the better. We will talk about what we can do to better our business by benefiting from these rather awesome SERP changes.

Getting a website to the top of the first page of Google for our desired search terms has recently become more difficult than ever, so say many of the so-called SEO gurus.

How difficult has ranking website's actually become though? Things have changed a little within Google's search algorithm and today it takes a different approach to rank website than what it did yesteryear. What good does it do to wine and cry about how Google has changed?

As an SEO, it's my job to deconstruct algorithmic changes and not complain about them merely existing.

1. The 6 basic SEO rules

Let's take a look at some of the non-changing rules, when it comes to Search Optimization, shall we?

Below are the rules that have not changed considerably. These are the rules we build our SEO strategies upon:

Content that takes time and effort to create. Content that oozes and slowly leaks with awesomeness - over a long period of time.

Crawlability that is sleek in it's design. Without maintaining a perfect crawl structure and site architecture the site is rendered sick (in a bad way).

Providing value to your readers, so that they can gain much benefit from what you might provide them.

Appearance means everything and will always be a vital aspect of your online success. Keep your appearance up on the web, as you would in real life. Your web design is your online clothing. Look professional and stay clean.

Quality backlinks will always bethe driving factor for any successful SEO campaign - no matter what year it is.

Building relationships, networking and remaining friendly at all times while implementing Social Mediaas your marketing medium.

As long as you build your battleship on top of these 6 rules, your competitors will not be able to outrank you, all they'll be able to do is play the game with you, alongside of you.

No matter how often the rules of the game change (by Google), you can rest assured that these rules never fail you.

They will always be the same and they'll always be the strongest driving force in your SEO plan.

2. 100% working SEO blueprint

There is no such thing! Sorry to disappoint but rankings now depend on a host of industry-specific factors. The SEO campaign and strategy for a Real-Estate website cannot be replicated blindly on a School website. The approach needs to be different therefore you cannot rely on copy-paste SEO campaign blueprints.

For quite a few years now, I've been ranking website's in more than 40 different niches. I'll admit, my job as an SEO has been far from a perfect journey. I've experienced just about all Google has to throw at an SEO, including months in the Sandbox (old-school), Google penalties, Google filters, Google Penguin, Panda and all other fancy names that Google gives to its updates.

If you want to use your current site for SEO make sure you don't get tempted by bulk backlink creation offers. They might sound promising but they will do your SEO campaign more harm than good.

If you're thinking about starting a new site, I recommend that you put some dedicated thought into building a nice brand for yourself.

Once you have everything ready to move forward, the first process to ranking any website is making sure the site is ready for what's to come.

Remember, before we start working on ranking our website, the website must be prepared and ready for battle.

SEO should be viewed as a technical and mental game.

The game is a very competitive game and while the rules may change at any given time, there will always be some rules that never change.

The rules that never change are the rules we want to emphasise the majority of our strength against and build upon.

Getting Started

Step 1 - Content is king.

I know you're tired of hearing that, but it's true. If a website is empty, dull with no life, has no content and looks like something a 2 year old child would be playing around with, it isn't worth anything.

The very same analogy rings true for a site with poor content and or no content at all, thin pages, etc.

Action for you - Create a 30 day content creation and marketing plan.

For the next 30 days you are going to write a minimum of two blog post per week. The blog post should be a minimum of 850 words of text.

Trust me, that's not as difficult as it might sound. I can't begin to tell you how many times I've trained and consulted with SEO's and gave them this practice as a "homework regimen" and later have to listen to them tell me that; "they aren't a good writer" and that "they can't do this".

"Not everyone is meant to be successful!" -- "Not everyone will be successful"

That's just rubbish. Do you think I was a professional copywriter when I first got started? Heck no, I wasn't!

After the initial 30 days have passed, you'll have a website FULL of content that was written by you and you'll have gained a new habit; "writing".

Step 1.1 - Semantic Search

If you aren't yet familiar with what Semantic Search is, the term "Semantic Search" justifies the actual "meaning of something".

So, instead of you thinking that keyword density is going to help make your website relevant to your desired keyword goals, think more along the lines of "a bigger picture".

As an example -- Let's say that your site has 50 web pages. Google is going to take those 50 pages and come up with a keyword percentage/average. That average will determine the overall keyword percentage of your whole website. This average will provide Google with a more visual image of what the meaning is - for the entire website. These keywords that are justified as the "meaning" -- will likely be the easier term to rank for. Hint, hint!

You Will Now Continue With Step #1

Note: You should still be working on Step #1 at this point. Step #1 is a huge step for you to take, it should be broken up into different working processes. There's no need for you to try and rush through step one, the more time you take completing step number one, the more you'll learn, the more you'll benefit and the better off you'll be in the end. Below I will provide you with some of my very own content marketing strategies.

The Content Road Show

Some SEO's like to make the argument that there's no such thing as content marketing. I have different opinions on this subject matter, but then again that's a story for a whole new article.

Publishing content on your blog just isn't enough, when the web today is a growing universe of interlinked web pages and web apps, teeming with videos, photos, and interactive content. Without marketing your website and your content, your website is similar to a giant billboard on a lost, deserted island.

That's what puts SEO in such a high demand. How you market your content means everything to your overall success, not to mention the many links, anchor diversity, shares and social signals you'll receive just from trying to market your content.

Years ago, all this awesome technology didn't exist. Marketers still managed to spread the word though. Movie producers would use a strategy called the "content road show" to promote their latest work, in order to get it seen and noticed by their target audience. They would literally get in their vehicle and take it on the road, travelling all over the place, telling people about what they had done. Thus this strategy was coined -- the road show.

Why is it were constantly going back to the basics? The reason were constantly going back to basics, is because everyone is steadily seeking shortcuts, taking more business risk and new digging for new ways to do business, to try and refrain from actually having to put forth work.

How Can This Content Marketing Strategy Work Online?

The way this will work is through a little footwork. Yes, more work will be involved.

If you thought this was going to be an easy process, you were wrong. When you get tired from all the hard work, keep in mind the size of the reward at the end of the road.

To start your content road show, let's take our content down some of the various online roads we have available at our disposal. We’re going to contact the people whose sites you've "linked to" from within your article(s).

We should do this every-time we write a new article.

1. Let's start by using some "thank you emails". Thank you emails are great for showing your respect for a webmasters time, effort and work. Thank you emails have many different benefits, they also increase the ego of the content (link) owner and make it more likely for the webmaster or owner of the content to link back to you and share what content you've created, with their followers across the web.

2. Another one of my famous content marketing receipts is to use forums. The trick that I use here is, I will find forums that're relevant to the niche in which I'm writing about and I will establish an account on those (3-4 max) forums and I will write a small tutorial or article somewhat similar to the main piece I'm wanting to promote. Doesn't have to be similar to your main content though. The goal here is to add quality and follow-up with it adding further value to questions that the post receives. Try and provide help and make acquaintances. Your aim should be to position yourself as the expert in a given niche. Forum users naturally share forum threads, and most enjoy boosting great topics.

I make sure to always place a link back to the article on my site, from the tutorials I create on forums.

Forums can make for a really powerful marketing tool when implemented correctly.

Remember, what I said about forums in an earlier paragraph though -- don't get too tied up in these forums.

If you're looking for a place to build relationships and network, that place should be LinkedIn, FB, Twitter and other relevant platforms.

3. Let's not forget to send heads up emails. Contact everyone that you have linked to and let them know you've linked to them.

Step 2 – Internal Linking

On to step two!

Step number two is a rather difficult process, only if you make it difficult on yourself.

Please make sure that you link together all the pages within your site.

You need to also link together all of the pages of your site, "back to your homepage".

Once you feel comfortable, you can move on andlearn how to build the perfect information architecture (IA).

Give this step much time and respect. Try to gain the best understanding possible and then begin practicing these things on your own website.

Step 3 and 4

Remember that everything you do online is under a lot of scrutiny by your peers and those who find your site. Everything you do online is seen by others. Everything you write, build or say is criticized by very harsh critics.

Put your heart into every move you make. Your online website is your home. People will judge you, like it or not. Add as much value as you possibly can to everything you possibly can.

I personally recommend LinkedIn, as LinkedIn is the social media platform that I regularly use and enjoy. You can pick the one you would prefer to use, but Linkedin adds more SEO benefit than any other social media platform. I have LinkedIn open in a browser tab at all times and regularly participate in industry relevant conversations -- with industry leaders.

Many people like you and I, waste a great deal of time on forums. If you are one of these people, try to convert all that time you're spending on forums, to spending that time on LinkedIn. It's a great way to build an awesome social media following and is a great place to share your content after you have finished writing your blog posts each day or each week.

By this time, if you're one of the ones who dedicated yourself to making it this far along in this SEO campaign guide and tutorial, your website should be ranking pretty damn well right about now, for numerous keywords.

This Search Engine Optimization strategy provides very solid rankings that stand the test of time.

In other words, they're pretty easy to maintain. I recommend that you start to work on your content creation. Your long-term goal there should be to create the best, most amazing content in your niche -- content that gains organic links and social shares, like never before. That's my goal and I'm still working on that one everyday.

Please continue to work hard at everything you do, not just online but in life. Keep in mind that Google's search engine intentions are, to see to it that the best, most creative, high quality content is shown on the first page of Google, so that when someone searches Google, they receive the best results imaginable.

As time moves forward, Google will get better at returning better quality search results and as long as you’re building your business on top of these SEO rules, you can never go wrong.

I hope that you've enjoyed this article. I know I really enjoyed writing it for you. Spread the word by using the social media sharing options that I have available for you, right here on this page. I've made it easy for you and I totally appreciate your help. You guys are so awesome!